My 8 E-books written over the years by Alina Udrea - HTML preview

Chapter 5

Ever since Angela received that packet, Miss Eveline's

behavior towards her changed. She got better meals since that day, less or almost no scolding and suspicious looks from the old spinster from time to time. And Angela could have sworn it was jealousy what she saw in Miss Eveline's eyes. But she couldn’t explain to herself why all these sudden changes. The food was better, the atmosphere was more relaxed, but it was as if Miss Eveline was spying on her to find out …, well, Angela herself didn’t know what Miss Eveline was trying to find out.

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Rose too, benefited from this as she got the same treatment as Angela, to the other children’s surprise. This change of things didn’t go unnoticed by the other children at the orphanage, especially Clark and his gang of brawlers. Clark was a lean boy, not very muscular, but not weak. But he was more than clever and he ruled his small gang of thugs with an iron fist right under Miss Eveline's nose, who seemed oblivious to everything. These few children stole for him. And in return, he offered them protection and better food than what they got from the orphanage. But they needed the orphanage for shelter at least until they turned 18 and then they would just have to find another place and go on with their criminal activities. They were dangerous, especially Clark, their leader. These kids did everything from shoplifting to pickpocketing and even burglary. Then they, the four of them, would bring all the loot to Clark and he would sell what he could and make a profit which he used to buy food for the five of them: himself, Christian, a tall and skinny boy of 16 who was skilled with picking locks, Dave, a very good runner who could outrun the guards after drawing their attention to him so the others could escape with the plunder, Greg, their bait, a plump boy who proved very useful, and Nick, the most decent of them who was a good fist fighter and who had often been their way out of trouble with the city guards.

Upon seeing that Angela and Rose got more food again, he

decided to find out what it was all about. So Clark and his gang sat down at Angela and Rose's table, although the girls hadn't invited them or anyone else. They always ate alone at their table in the corner of the canteen, far from the other kids.

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Everybody knew they were loners and that they didn’t talk much, except to one another. So when Clark and his gang of troublemakers took a seat at their table, all the other children stopped and watched, aware that this didn’t smell right. One of the kids ran out of the canteen in a hurry.

Clark sat next to Rose while Greg took a seat opposite them,

next to Angela. Christian stood right next to Clark while Nick and Dave sat down next to Angela, too. The girls didn’t know what it was all about, but neither was stupid. They knew they were in trouble. Angela could see Rose trying to keep calm and ignore Clark while her hands betrayed her. Her hands were shaking so bad that all the soup from her spoon fell on the table. Clark, well aware of the effect he produced wherever he went with his gang, sneered. Angela wished they would just go away, but she knew they weren’t there to just leave. They were there looking for trouble.

Greg, the plump kid, helped himself from Angela's loaf of

bread and took her two only meatballs, leaving her with just the mashed potatoes. Angela felt her blood boil in her and gave him a deadly look but Greg couldn’t care less. He wasn't alone, he had the gang for protection. So he took a bite of one of the meatballs, then he started to lick his fingers, mocking Angela and Rose, to the other's delight and amusement. They all started laughing and then Dave, the athlete, took Rose's food and gave the bread to Nick.

Angela couldn’t take it anymore. There were five of them

and they were only two. Or better said, it was as if she was alone as she couldn’t count on Rose in a fight. She was a fragile girl. Decent and good hearted, but useless in a fight. And it

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would have been better if she had been alone as at least then she would only have had to care for herself, but this was worse. She also had to protect Rose. Although she never admitted it to her, she cared about her. Of all the other kids in the orphanage, this feeble girl was a nice company.

“Enough!” Angela roared from the bottom of her lungs, while she got up from the table and felt for her hidden knife. She prayed she wouldn’t have to use it inside the orphanage. “Oh, did I hear something?” Clark asked mocking and imitating her. The rest of his gang rose to their feet, too. They didn’t know much about Angela but they had heard rumors that she was a pretty good fighter if she needed to fight. Clark never believed those rumors, he could never imagine that a girl could fight.

“You can have my food, I'm not that hungry…”, Rose's choked voice had hardly been audible while she muttered the words. “Take it and leave us alone, please!”, she went on this time with a little more power in her voice.

“No!”, Angela said while she punched Greg in his face, stuffing his other meatball in his mouth. Christian quickly took a knife from the table and plunged at her, aiming it at her. Rose fainted and fell under the table, to Angela's relief as she was safe there. She took out her knife too and managed to parry Christian’s strike. Then with a strong blow, she thrust his knife from his hands. It fell on Nick's right foot, pinning him to the ground. Dave, the one with the athletic build, punched her in her stomach and Clark too started to hit her. She fell under a storm of blows when something caught Clark' s eyes. Something shiny had fallen from Angela's pocket. He stopped hitting her and

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made a sign for Dave to also stop. He picked up Angela's ring. She had kept it in her pocket all this while meaning to try it on but she never had the chance and then she just forgot about it. When she saw it, she felt something strange, like a huge urge to have it and put it on. Clark was faster and took it but Angela got up and snatched it from his hands.

“This is mine, you brute!” and as Angela was saying the words, she put the snake shaped ring on her index finger so he couldn’t take it anymore. Then it all happened: the moment she put in around her finger she felt a sudden rush, adrenaline was pumping in her whole being, time itself seemed to stop. She wasn't in pain anymore from the bruises caused by Clark and his boys, on the contrary, she felt very strong. She looked at the ring and the two red rubies were shining so bright as if they were on fire or as if the snake had somehow turned to life and those really were his devilish eyes. Everything seemed so unreal, it was like a dream. But it was true. What was happening to her? Clark was moving as if in slow motion, coming towards her, Dave was reaching for some hidden weapon in his pocket, Greg was knocked out with his head on the empty plate of food and Nick was still trying to get the knife out of his shoe and foot. Christian was somewhere behind her and she could hear his footsteps coming towards her, too. Angela reached for Dave's pocket and took his weapon with a very swift move. It was a small sharp dagger. She stashed it on her belt as she didn’t want to harm the stupid greedy boys. Then she heard Christian's fist through the air but she dodged him so fast that she could still see him trying to punch her. She was already behind him and kicked him hard behind

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his right knee, making him kneel in pain.

Clark wasn't sure what was going on. He saw his gang

defeated by this girl and he saw her suddenly moving and kicking right and left with such speed that he could barely keep track of her. So he decided to back away for now. He helped his cronies get up and muttered a swear through his gritted teeth at Angela and then just as they were about to leave, Miss Eveline came accompanied by the little boy who had left out of the canteen earlier to get her. She was also accompanied by a few nurses who were also in charge of the children in the orphanage.

After a quick glance, Miss Eveline, who also feared Clark and

his gang although she would have never admitted that to anyone, tried to figure out what had happened. But it made no sense. John, the boy who had called for her, said that Angela and Rose were in trouble. But as far as she could see, Angela was ok standing straight up with a defying look in her eyes, Rose was at the table, not under it as she would have seen her had she come a few minutes earlier, and Clark and his cronies were…not looking good. All the boys looked as if they were in pain while Angela and Rose were ok. Now Miss Eveline was intrigued.

“What happened here? Rose, would you mind telling me what happened?”. Miss Eveline decided to get her answers from Rose as she knew she was a shy girl and she would probably tell her the truth.

“Uh, nothing, Miss Eveline! We were just enjoying lunch when you came….” And Rose blushed to the tip of her nose. Truth is she wasn't sure herself what had just taken place. Last

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thing she remembered was Greg taking her food and things got heated and then she swooned and fell under the table. She had just come back to her senses and got back at her table when Miss Eveline barged in. So she hadn't lied to her, she really had no idea what had really happened.

“Angela!”, Miss Eveline then tried to approach Angela as Rose couldn’t give her any information on what had happened and none of the other children having their lunch was going to speak by the look on their faces. They were all minding their business, having their lunch with a smug look on their faces but not one was going to talk about it.

Meanwhile, Angela had calmed down and as the danger had

gone, her senses relaxed and time was passing in the usual manner, not in slow-mo. She remembered about the ring on her finger and she was sure it had something to do with what had just happened. She was a good fighter, but she knew she was not THAT good, though, as to single handed stop five brutes. It had to be the ring. So she tried to take it off and hide it before Miss Eveline would notice it. But it was all in vain. She just couldn’t take it off, it was as if the darn thing had become a part of her and wouldn’t come off anymore. She started fidgeting and she hid her hands behind her back while trying to look humble before Miss Eveline and trying to make her think that was why she put her hands behind her, while in fact she was trying to hide the ring.

“Well!?” Miss Eveline went on as Angela hadn't answered her. She was getting irritated and started to stomp her feet. Her high heels resounded on the canteen floor, slicing the silence that surrounded them.

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“Nothing happened, Miss. We were just leaving as we already finished our lunch, ain't that right, boys?”, said Clark as he figured this was the best answer. He wasn't going to admit that he and his gang had just taken a beating from a girl. And he was hoping Angela would also be quiet about it if she knew what was good for her and her little friend. He would have plenty of time to settle the score later. But for now, they didn’t need Miss Eveline to butt in. They didn’t want to be expelled from the orphanage as they had nowhere else to go for now. “Then what’s with Greg's bruise on his cheek?”, Miss Eveline went on as she was sure Clark was lying. “And why is Nick limping? Somebody had better tell me what happened or you will all be grounded! No food for any of you for the next two days!”. Now Miss Eveline was yelling at them, her eyes out of their pockets making her look like an owl. Seeing that nobody was saying anything, she made a last try. “Greg, why is your cheek bruised? And what's with all that food on your face?”, she asked Greg, the dumbest of them. “Uh…, I tripped and fell on Rose's plate…”, Greg said blushing.

“And I suppose Nick also fell and hurt his foot, right?”

“You are starting to get the picture, Miss Eveline. As I was saying, nothing happened here, we are all friends, right girls?” Clark muttered menacingly while looking at Angela. But she didn't seem to care.

“Yeah, right, whatever. I'm out of here!” and she left the canteen, Rose quickly following her.

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